Monday, 2 November 2009

The Death of Bunny Munro by Nick Cave

Nick Cave's new novel. Part picaresque, part ghost story, but chiefly an old-fashioned morality tale concerning itself chiefly with lust. Bunny Munro, named for his ability to copulate like a rabbit, as well as for his animal nature, is a salesman for Eternity Enterprises. He sells anti-aging creams to vulnerable women. After his wife's suicide at the beginning of the book he sets off on a journey to hell, in the company of his son, Bunny Junior, the true hero of the book, and the character closest to the reader. Bunny is a disgusting, repellant, charmer, but he is undeniably full of life and as irresistible to us as he is to the women he seduces. Written with tremendous verve and love of the unexpected simile (hair pouring down the back of a character "like chicken soup"), this is an enjoyably old-fashioned book, and altogether more compassionate than you might think.